The people living inside the giant walls rarely think about the past. Life is difficult enough without worrying about how the world ended. Children grow up, find work, follow the rules handed down to them, and learn very quickly where they stand in society. Most never see what lies beyond the walls, and most do not want to.
Du Dian arrives in this world carrying a burden nobody around him could possibly understand. Long before these walls existed, he lived in a different age, one filled with things that have disappeared so completely they might as well be myths. A disaster took that world away, yet through a twist of fate revealed early in the story, he survives and wakes centuries later. By then, everyone he ever knew is gone. The places he remembered no longer exist. Even ordinary conversations sound unfamiliar.
For a while, his entire world is an overcrowded orphanage.
The children there are not worried about grand mysteries or forgotten history. They worry about food, warm clothes, and whether a family might choose them before they become old enough to lose that chance forever. Du Dian spends most of his time listening rather than talking. Partly because he is learning a new language, partly because he has learned that people reveal more when they think nobody is paying attention.
Life inside the orphanage teaches him things no book could. A kind gesture often comes with conditions attached. Promises can change depending on who is listening. The difference between comfort and hardship sometimes comes down to a single decision made by someone wealthier than you.
When the opportunity to leave finally appears, it feels less like an ending and more like stepping into a larger maze.
Outside, the gap between rich and poor becomes impossible to ignore. Entire districts live by different rules despite existing within the same walls. People speak proudly about order and civilization, yet many subjects are avoided the moment they become uncomfortable. Questions about the past are especially unwelcome.
Du Dian does not set out to uncover hidden truths. At first, he simply wants a stable life, a chance to stand on his own feet in a world that owes him nothing. Yet the longer he lives there, the more often small details refuse to fit together. A strange rule here, a missing piece of history there, a reaction that feels just a little too careful whenever certain topics are mentioned.
Eventually, curiosity becomes difficult to ignore, because the deeper Du Dian settles into this new world, the more it feels like somebody worked very hard to make sure certain stories were never told.
